The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) now admits to an internal report showing the Coronavirus did not originate from the Huanan food market as they initially stated.
Senator Tom Cotton has previously questioned the origination claim because there is a level-4 biological weapons lab in Wuhan, China, where the Huanan market is located.  Tonight Senator Cotton tweets vindication toward his original suspicions:
(Via Global Times) A new study by Chinese researchers indicates the novel coronavirus may have begun human-to-human transmission in late November from a place other than the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.
The study published on ChinaXiv, a Chinese open repository for scientific researchers, reveals the new coronavirus was introduced to the seafood market from another location, and then spread rapidly from market to market. The findings were the result of analyses of genome-wide data, sources of infection and the route of spread of 93 samples of the novel coronavirus collected from 12 countries across four continents.
The study believes that patient zero transmitted the virus to workers or sellers at the Huanan seafood market. The crowded market facilitated the further transmission of the virus to buyers, which caused a wider spread in early December 2019.
(more…)

Senator Tom Cotton appears on Fox News to discuss the latest on the troubling issues with the Coronavirus.  China has approximately 70 million people in quarantine during their effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Senator Cotton has been a leading voice in the U.S. warning about the potential risks from Coronavirus spread.  Interestingly Mr. Cotton explains the origination of the virus did not come from the food market initially blamed. However there is a level-4 bio-lab within a few miles of the Wuhan market. Occam’s razor? Interesting information.

(more…)

White House manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro has an important discussion with Maria Bartiromo about the consequences of the Coronavirus which includes the need for U.S. companies to return manufacturing to the United States on key medical products and pharmaceuticals.   A very important subject.
Both Navarro and Bartiromo note that our dependency on Asia for medical products is a problem when a global virus erupts, global demand for those products peaks, and the supply of those products becomes most urgent.

.
It would seem obvious (to me) that medical products and pharmaceuticals would be two sectors for the Commerce Department (Sec. Wilbur Ross) where a national security review would be well worth the time & effort.  The multinationals would fight the administration, but it might be worth this fight.
(more…)

Even before the Coronavirus surfaced in China there was lower manufacturing factory activity within the Chinese economy.  The necessary response within China to control the spread of the Coronavirus has been to shut down most commerce.  Factories, schools &  businesses throughout China are empty as various containment measures are underway.

The direct result of this response is a severe drop in economic activity.  Many analysts are speculating about how this cessation of production might impact supply chains that use Chinese component goods.  Obviously, with manufacturing facilities closed any downstream multinational company relying on those products may have supply issues as soon as existing inventories deplete.
There is a natural lag before the manufacturing void hits the consumer market; however, the financial markets are forward looking and they are already reflecting severe drops in stock prices, depending on the dependency/exposure of the company and/or sector.

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese stock and commodity markets fell heavily on Monday as the death toll from a coronavirus epidemic in China rose to 361 and investors retreated into safe-haven assets in the first trading session after an extended Lunar New Year break.

(more…)

In response to an escalating spread of the Coronavirus President Trump initiated a suspension of entry visa’s for persons traveling from China:  “The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the People’s Republic of China, excluding the Special Autonomous Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended and limited” [link].
The travel restrictions went into effect at 5:00pm today.  Essentially President Trump is putting the health of Americans first. However, in an effort to politicize the Coronavirus, presidential candidate Joe Biden says travel entry restrictions are “hysteria, xenophobia and fearmongering”:

[…] “We have, right now, a crisis with the coronavirus,” Biden said in Iowa Friday. “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia – hysterical xenophobia – and fearmongering to lead the way instead of science.”  (more)

…And just like that Democrats become the party of pro-virus.
You know the professional open-border democrats have lost their minds when they start defending the rights of a potentially deadly virus to enter the U.S.A.  Nuts.  Great job Joe.
(more…)

Earlier today the federal Coronavirus Task Force established by President Trump held a press conference to explain the U.S. response status and answer media questions.
The task force is being led by HHS Secretary Alex Azar and includes:  Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Ken Cuccinelli, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Matthew Pottinger, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.
[Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – SECRETARY AZAR: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I’m Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Chairman of the President’s Task Force on the Novel Coronavirus.

I’m going to start by turning things over to Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to discuss the current situation on the novel coronavirus. Dr. Redfield.

(more…)

Upon taking office one of the first initiatives from President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump was to organize a full government effort to tackle an extreme opioid crisis impacting many American communities.  In October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency.  Today the White House and CDC announce some incredible results as a result of the effort.  [CDC Data Here]
Fatal drug overdoses dropped in 2018 for the first time in 30 years; and as a result average life expectancy for Americans increased for the first time in four years.  Drug overdose deaths are still an urgent health emergency; and the entire program will remain a priority; however, the upward trend has been stopped and is starting to reverse.
Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway, ONDCP Director Jim Carroll, and Asst. Secretary of Public Health Admiral Brett Giroir hold a press conference to announce & discuss:

(Politico) […] New CDC data released Thursday provides hope that the major contributors to three years of stagnant or declining life expectancy may be relenting. (more)

(more…)

In response to potential health risks; and anticipating multiple agency aspects of the U.S. government would need a unified approach; President Trump has assembled a unified task force to coordinate all response efforts across the totality of government.

[White House] – President Donald J. Trump announced the formation of the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. Members of the Task Force have been meeting on a daily basis since Monday. At today’s meeting, which the President chaired, he charged the Task Force with leading the United States Government response to the novel 2019 coronavirus and with keeping him apprised of developments.
The Task Force is led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and is coordinated through the National Security Council. It is composed of subject matter experts from the White House and several United States Government agencies, and it includes some of the Nation’s foremost experts on infectious diseases.
(more…)

The willful blindness of the U.S. media is becoming a parody unto itself.

The outbreak of the Measles virus is gaining attention as medical reports begin to accumulate by the day. Yet, no-one in the legacy media claims to be able to see the similarity to the Enterovirus D-68 outbreaks.
So, again, let’s look at outbreak maps and compare:

(more…)

At 100 or more new reported cases a day
(and, obviously, an unquantified number of unreported cases) coupled with the deliberate “removal” of dead victims from the official tally, it is apparent that the Ebola outbreak continues to rage and is far from contained.
As has been mentioned here and elsewhere in the Realism Blogosphere,  Math Just Is.  As the Daily Mail UK reports, scores of orphaned children left to care for themselves after close contact and sustained exposure to a parent or other caregiver who has died from Ebola are  “ticking timebombs”.
(more…)